Tready of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas was a treaty signed by Spain and Portugal at Tordesillas on 7 June 1494. The treaty was the brainchild of Pope Alexander VI, who first proposed the division of the colonial world between the two powers in September 1492 while meeting with the Spanish ambassador Diego de Haro and the Portuguese cardinal Jorge da Costa. He used a compass to draw a meridian line halfway between Cape Verde and the Caribbean; all of the territories to the west of the line (the Americas, bar Brazil) were to belong to the Spanish Empire, while all of those east of the line (Brazil, the Atlantic islands, and Africa) were to belong to Portugal. In 1494, the treaty was signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Queen Isabella of Castile, John, Prince of Asturias, and King Joao II of Portugal.